


Amber/Omber

by dirtyclaws



Category: Original Work
Genre: Magic, Necromancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-25
Updated: 2019-02-25
Packaged: 2019-11-05 10:47:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17917298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dirtyclaws/pseuds/dirtyclaws
Summary: just smth for a friend





	Amber/Omber

**Author's Note:**

> gwemlins

The first time is with a small dead bird, leaning towards the first signs of decay. Cold flesh is under cold feathers, and it's legs stick out stiff and fragile. A twist in it's neck marks the death, the end of the beak chipped off from the fall. A few of the tail feathers are bent and snapped, but nothing that can't be fixed.

The leaves cast spotted shadows over the grass of the clearing. The wind had bent the blades over the young bird, forming a blanket, with soft, warm earth as a mattress. Now the same wind curled through the sisters' hair as they bent over, completely absorbed in their work.

"Is it too gone?" Omber asked. Amber's fingers burrowed into the feathers without hesitation, pulling them up to examine the skin. She turned it over, delicately trying to move the toes and legs for her observations.

"I dunno," Amber shrugged and Omber leaned back, sucking on a caramel candy. She plucked three long strands of grass, tucking her knees close to her chest as she braided them together before tearing them apart. She started on another as Amber worked, both of them focused on their tasks.

After a few minutes Amber reached into the bag next to her, pulling out a book and slamming it on the ground next to the bird. "I got it!" Her sister rolled forward excitedly, abandoning her braid of grass and grinning. Amber traced the sigil on the page, tapping it. "We just have to focus on bringing it back and it'll work."

Omber bounced excitedly, clapping her hands before resting the tips of her fingers on the paper. "Okay, okay! Let's do this, come on!"

"Omber! Be patient!"

"You sound like mom!"

After a few seconds of silence, Omber huffed. "This sucks! It's not working."

"Just work on it! Focus on what the magic means. Let it flow through you."

"You sound like mom again. You don't even know what those words mean!"

"Shut up!"

Omber scowled but turned her attention back to the grimoire, focusing on the bits of energy inside her. They were fleeting, almost, but dense. Like plunging your hand into a barrel of seeds, packed tightly, and trying to pick them up while they ran through your hands. She screwed her eye shut in concentration, trying to curl around the piece of energy, lacing a net to pull it to the surface.

"Omber!! Omber!!!" The sigil had started glowing, and Omber could feel energy being pulled to the forefront. She looked to her widely grinning sister, feeling the magic swirl between them before pulling away, curling into the body on the ground.

The sisters could feel as their magic sunk in, pulling at old sinews and settling into cracked bones. The young bird's neck slowly rotated, pulling out to face forward and resting on the grass. After another few minutes its eyes slowly opened, twitching and uncertain.

It gave a rusty, croaky chirp and both of them screamed in delight. Omber clapped her hands as Amber leaned forward, scooping up the bird and turning it back and forth to examine it. "It's alive again! The neck is fixed, everything. And- wait..."

It gave another crooked chirp, even more pitiful than the last. After a few seconds it's eyes closed, and the tiny breaths it drew faded, lying limp in Amber's hands once again.

She threw it to the side with a disgusted noise, seeming less repulsed with it and more with the failure. She pulled a notebook out of her bag, scrawling notes while Omber huffed and dug her hands into the earth.

"It's fine." Amber flicked the end of her pencil to her mouth, chewing thoughtfully. "Next time... next time it'll work."

"AMBER! OMBER!"

Omber's head whipped around. "Crap."

Her sister echoed it, throwing herself down on the grass. "We're busted."

.

It isn't the first, but it's one of the worse ones. Usually it was only a couple bruises, but this time there was a crunch and blood dripping down onto the grass, spilling over the front of Omber's shirt and jacket, eyepatch ripped off and smudged with dirt, clenched in her fist.

They were sitting out during break, Omber making notes on new spells and Amber studying for their classes, when an insult caught their attention. One thing led to another, the boy looming above them, until he reached down and ripped off Omber's eyepatch, throwing it to the ground and kicking dirt on it.

It definitely wasn't the only way to make Omber angry, but it was one of the quickest.

"Don't-" Amber tried to cut her off but it was too late. Omber shot up, flinging mulch everywhere and throwing punches wildly. Amber shot her book off her lap, trying to push through boy away but only catching a fist to her shoulder. Beside her, she heard Omber's nose crack and her head shoot back as his fist made contact.

It didn't take long before teachers were rushing over, pushing both of them away from each other. The boy already had scraped welts running down his cheek and neck while Omber's crooked nose dripped blood down to her shirt. She snatched her dirty eyepatch back up, scowling as they led her and the boy back to the building. They only gave Amber a cursory glance, making sure no real damage had been done.

Omber kicked a pillow around their room later, scowling darkly about it and ranting nonstop. "They accept our fucking help when they want it but they never actually want us! Why the fuck should we even be here?! Our teachers don't even like us, we have to answer everything perfectly or they try to dock us, it's all fucking stupid!"

It kept going, but Amber tuned most of it out. Omber was right, of course. About every part of it. But Amber didn't have the energy to get angry like Omber did. For better, or for worse.

Omber gave the pillow a final kick before slumping against the wall, leaning her head back against it. "This is stupid."

Amber snorted. "Yeah, I got that part." She swung her legs over the side, leaning forward and bracing her arms on the bed. "Did you get in trouble?"

Omber shook her head. "No. He broke my nose, so they couldn't yell at me a bunch. Not for scratches." She scowled darker, touching her recently healed face. "I wish it would have left a scar, at least. The fuck is the point of healing something completely?"

Amber snorted again. "Of course you'd say that."

"Hey! The fuck does that fucking mean?"

"Always with the incessant vulgarity."

"Don't say that shit to me! You don't even know what it means, you just got it from Mrs. Grishin." Omber leaned forward, snatching the pillow off the floor and hurtling it to her sister. Amber giggled as she caught it, wrapping her arms around it and laying down on the bed.

"Mine now."

"The hell it is! Give me it back!"

.

"I just want him back." His voice cracked and broke on the end, and the boy rubbed his eyes rapidly, averting them from the dead kitten on the table.

"Pft." Omber turned to her sister. "Remember when we were 14 and he snatched my eyepatch off and broke my nose? What a change of pace."

Internally, Amber agreed. But he was a paying customer, and they liked having money. "Yeah, I know. But come on." She turned back to their peer, and the dead kitten on the table in front of them. "How did it die? And how long ago?" Beside her, Omber reached forward, feeling along all the bones and muscle of the cat.

"Just a day ago. And we- we don't know, but we're pretty sure it fell off the deck and it-" His voice cracked again, becoming thicker as he continued talking. "We think it's spine broke."

"It didn't, idiot." Omber sighed. Her fingers were pinched on either side of it's hips. "It broke its hip and completely separated it from the vertebrae." She felt around it more, moving her fingers down. "And probably jacked up some of it's organs. Won't know until we get in there, though."

Amber frowned but went to retrieve their scalpel and gloves, handing a pair to Omber and addressing the person in front of them. "You probably don't want to see this."

They could both see his throat bob as he gulped, then spoke. "No I- I wanted to."

Omber flipped the kitten over, letting the scalpel hover an inch above it's stomach before making eye contact with him. "If you throw up on my floor, I am going to be so pissed."

He turned a faint green before darting out the door, nearly slamming it shut behind him. Omber snickered. "Wimp."

She didn't hesitate longer before cutting the cat open, carefully holding out the organs and looking them over for damage. Amber helped, pointing out scratches and splits and stitching them back together as they went. It barely took a few minutes before they were to the hips, splaying the shattered bones out.

"Poor thing." Amber's face was set into a frown.

Omber grinned. "Not for much longer! We can definitely handle this, ready?"

Amber nodded and stripped her gloves off, fetching their book from the nightstand while Omber set the splintered bones as best she could. When they were both ready the sisters reached for their magic, so much more refined and immediate and powerful than it had been on that day in the forest, bringing back a bird they couldn't even understand.

It took a few minutes, but slowly the bones reset with sharp clicks, flowing back together with hairline scars. The organs righted themselves and the skin flowed back closed, before its eyes opened again and it gave a tiny, undignified squeak.

"Aaaaand we're back!" Omber stripped off her gloves, grinning and petting it behind the ears. Amber stretched up, arms over her head as she surveyed their work. There'd be a scar, but overall? Not bad at all.

A few seconds later the door opened and the boy marched back in, still looking a little sick. His eyes landed on the kitten and relief and tears filled them. He started forward and scooped it up, holding it close to his chest and petting it. The kitten started purring furiously, rubbing it's head into his hand.

"A few things." His head snapped up at Amber's voice. "Make sure it doesn't get too warm or too hot, they have a little trouble with thermoregulation the first few days. Also, lots of high calorie foods and lots of fluids. And no strenuous activity. Mostly standard surgery rules and you'll be fine."

He nodded vigorously before digging out an envelope from his pocket. "Here's the money for it. And don't- don't tell anyone I was here." With that he rushed out the door again, once again living kitten clutched close to him.

Omber signed, pulling the wrapper off a sucker and popping it into her mouth. "Even with favors they don't want to be associated with us." She made a face, pulling the sucker out of her mouth. "Fuck mystery flavors."

"Give it to me." Amber took it from her while Omber dug through the bag for another one. "And yeah. It always happens. I just can't wait until I graduate and get out of here. Mosnum is going to rock after this."

Omber flung herself into the bed, new candy in her mouth. "Fuck that. I'm gonna go to Erius and fuck everything up for them. We're not gonna be treated like freaks forever."

Amber laughed, dumping the used gloves into the trash can and jumping onto her own mattress. "Yeah. That wouldn't surprise me."


End file.
